greens:
Thank you so much for this. I just finished the process of Ifá initiation. (ìsẹ́fá as well as ìtẹ́fá).

I will like to do more by joining at least 2 awo funfun. Thank you again

👍🏾

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLlqwp2xEuY

Please watch the video before commenting.

I very much agree with what the man said in the video. The only exception is in a case like Nigeria where our educational institutions are most times very obviously substandard. And the fact that we are not actively involved in any serious research and development. Besides that. Everything he said is on point. There are courses one can study in Nigeria and be on par with someone who studied the same in the US or Canada, for example.

What do you think?

cc: pansophist, sukkot, Gerrard59, Treadway, CaveAdullam

Hmmm…. Na wa.

Gerrard59:


But Emirati women don't get all of their husbands' salaries, but it is developed. It is men, not women, who develop and chart the course of successful societies.

https://www.nairaland.com/6643241/nigerian-men-failed-women

A developed society is such that you, as the man, build it to high levels, then set societal rules for everyone to follow. Those wey no follow can go to hell, it is none of your business. You created that society. That is what Chinese men have done, and I admire them so much. As it is, all Chinese dominant societies are prosperous, safe and thriving.

I totally get you. I was just making a funny point. Perhaps I should have added a smiling face emoticon. From the little I know about Indians too their women are generally quite level headed and perform their roles well as mothers/wives either they are fully employed or not.

And like you said it is the job of men build society. And I have to say we African men have mostly failed dreadfully to build ours. There appears to be no light at the end of the tunnel even now.

Goodlyhrt:

If not that African people are a weak race why are we allowing the total colonization of our customs and almost full relegation of our traditions.

I think we don't have the…

I have studied us for decades. We are mentally weak, easily deceived, too laid back, lack deep intellectual thinking, are only interested in satiating our immediate wants/needs and don’t plan long term as a result. To make matters worse we are too short sighted. As a result all that matters to an average black man is getting money/wealth/power which makes it nearly impossible for us to plan/have long-term goals. Nothing else matters. To make matters even worse still we have not learned till this very day as all that still matters to the black man/woman is wealth. We live. We die. Thats how an average black man lives.

Gerrard59:


There is nothing wrong with that. Emirati and Japanese women prefer being housewives while their husbands earn money for the households. The koko be say, Emirati and Japanese men have built successful, safe and thiving societies. The question is: why has the black man not done the same?

Japanese housewives literally receive their husbands’ salaries and determine what goes to the hands of the husbands. They have no choice but to prefer being housewives.

flyinnizam:
I didn't watch it though

You should. Though it is an old show and it is already concluded. You will enjoy it nonetheless. It is low key epic.

Poltergeist.
The Haunting of Hill House (miniseries).
The Haunting of Bly Manor (miniseries).

Lol. It would be Jack Bauer. That guys is more savage than he appears. He is a corporate brute.

From what I know from someone who stays in Germany studying there will require that you learn their language well enough to be fluent (speaking, reading, writing and conversing) in it before you can study over there. But in the case of the USA you already speak english so the US would be a more comfortable choice.

I believe custom duty charges are the culprits here. Not really the rate of the dollar to the naira.

flyinnizam:
big fan of fringe

One of the best shows on TV.

Like Olamide said, “Freedom of speech dey, I no go dull you but freedom after speech I can’t assure you.”

Anyway freedom of speech does not mean you should say anything extreme as it will be taken seriously under the right circumstances.

7lives:


Black man loves too much enjoyment and also have excuse in religion.
The Bible said a thousand years is like a day before God, and black man still believes that God created the world in seven days.
Black man can't think this really makes me sad.
The reason why other races of human are doing well is due to their level of intelligence.
This continent needs thinkers, especially mathematicians and engineers, where are they?.
Okay black man is dumb, is this why we don't know how to produce foods that we eat again?.
Africa was never hungry before the coming of white man, so what exactly happened?.
Half of West Africa is hungry as am typing this, Nigerians blame Tinubu who are we going to blame for the hunger in the remaining west African countries?.
Black man wants easy life and easy ways out of every challenges.
Unfortunately, there are no easy ways.
There have never been and there will never be.

You have made a lot of valid points here. Very solid ones.

nearline:


The truth is our government has now failed us. This is why I decided to exclude the political aspect from this post even though it has become obvious that that is not totally ignorable. The point here now is to see what we as citizens can do to help the country. As bad as it is right now in the country there are many billionaires in this country. Most of them live really quiet lives. These category of people can help one way or another. If the government cannot handle implementing and managing infrastructure, like the industrial estates you have mentioned for example, for her people then any aspect of that infrastructure that is legal to be privately owned can be taken up by capable individuals and built and made to work for the people. It is not like they will be doing it for free. To bring a little bit more of politics in to this we also need many politicians with serious self discipline sponsored (or not) by business moguls just like them that want what is best for this country to come up and fight for the rest of us on the political front. That will help a lot too. In fact that is needed. Politics is not child's play. We all know that. But we need people who are ready to go there to do what is best for us. And I must also mention that those set of individuals must not go alone as their enemies are many — more than they can count. Their opponents operate as a team so the ones who will go into politics to fight for the masses must also operate as a more formidable team. We need to face this reality. A man with a great vision is not nearly enough to change anything.

HellVictorinho6 and NOwazobia perhaps you should take a look at one of my replies to this topic. It focuses a bit on the political side of things. I should also mention that this topic explicitly puts aside the political aspect of the country if you take a good look at the first post. And from the way you two are talking it shows how really pessimistic you are. Fine we have serious political problems in the country but is shunning every potential solution the way to solve it. Businesses still run, allowing the country to thrive. But what happens if none of those businesses are running at all because the owners choose not to run them again for non-political and non-economical reasons? How then will the country have this little growth we have right now? Yes we have political problems and that also needs to be attended to. That is a fact. But this topic is not focusing on that.

Also, about corruption. It will always be a thing but can be made to reduce.

Businesspeople will always inflate contract costs when they can. It is the job of their clients to be smart and make the decision that they believe is best for them.

HellVictorinho6:


let him keep deceiving himself


how much do i get for solving maths or teaching physics or further maths or teaching people how to read?

at a point, they ask me 2 consider chemistry.


av considered it 4 a while but am dropping it now


ar no wan study am again sef



almost everything 4 dis life don tire me


hardship 2 much

I need to make you understand that I am not deceiving myself though it appears so. I obviously said from the very beginning that politics is being ignored here. This is not about politics. Even politically stable countries that have basic agricultural exports and not much else to offer will still not be very rich like technologically advanced countries even if they are not very poor.

sukkot:
you are making strong points but they are not reality though bro, they are fantasy. No way Africa is taking over from China in tech , not in the next 100 years. The continent needs to be rebuilt and retooled and rekitted with tech before it can even start thinking of exporting tech. It’s like a 1 day old baby telling you he wants to start running 😄

I am not saying we can achieve it all now. What I meant, though not obvious, is an eventuality. Something that could happen in the future. Not now, obviously. Not even in the nearest future. It will take time like you said. But we need to start from somewhere.

Konquest:


Obafemi Awolowo established several industrial estates in some of the towns of the Old Western Region were he governed as the Prime Minister, such as Ikeja Industrial Estate, Ilupeju Industrial Estate, Iganmu Industrial Estate, Isolo Industrial Estate, Oluyole Industrial Estate in Ibadan, etc, to serve as high-end industrial and export hubs for finished goods. Many innovations and robust actions were introduced by Obafemi Awolowo such as the construction of the first of it's kind 21-storey "Western House" skyscraper belonging to the Western Region on Lagos Island which became the tallest building back then in the 1950s to 1960s on Lagos Island, and then the iconic tallest skyscraper in Nigeria called "Cocoa House" in Ibadan, and the first TV station in Africa. These were done through the power of individual foresight, team work and increased economic wealth. Even the Old Western Region had a diplomatic building in London before 1960, and it was that iconic building that Obafemi Awolowo's Old Western Region government handed over to Nigeria as an independence GIFT in 1960 to be used as her new Nigerian High Commission building in London!

Obafemi Awolowo's innovative and positive actions triggered other Nigerian regions to also compete in a healthy way by setting up Trans-Amadi Industrial Estate in Port Harcourt (and the one in Aba) in the Old Eastern Region, and Kakuri Industrial Estate in Kaduna in the Old Northern Region by the other regional governments.

The truth is our government has now failed us. This is why I decided to exclude the political aspect from this post even though it has become obvious that that is not totally ignorable. The point here now is to see what we as citizens can do to help the country. As bad as it is right now in the country there are many billionaires in this country. Most of them live really quiet lives. These category of people can help one way or another. If the government cannot handle implementing and managing infrastructure, like the industrial estates you have mentioned for example, for her people then any aspect of that infrastructure that is legal to be privately owned can be taken up by capable individuals and built and made to work for the people. It is not like they will be doing it for free. To bring a little bit more of politics in to this we also need many politicians with serious self discipline sponsored (or not) by business moguls just like them that want what is best for this country to come up and fight for the rest of us on the political front. That will help a lot too. In fact that is needed. Politics is not child's play. We all know that. But we need people who are ready to go there to do what is best for us. And I must also mention that those set of individuals must not go alone as their enemies are many — more than they can count. Their opponents operate as a team so the ones who will go into politics to fight for the masses must also operate as a more formidable team. We need to face this reality. A man with a great vision is not nearly enough to change anything.

Borrow222:



For Nigeria to achieve growth in Science or Engineering, it is imperative that every corner of the country is fully engaged.

We must eradicate tribalism and nepotism, fostering unity among all tribes. As long as nepotism and tribalism persist in Nigeria, progress will remain elusive.

Let us confront this reality.

You have made valid points but the truth is nothing you have mentioned can be eradicated in the true sense. They can be drastically reduced but not completely eradicated. What matters is that we try to find a way to work together right now so that we can begin to trust each other more and create an environment where tribalism and nepotism, as you have mentioned, are not really too much of a big deal anymore. We have to start somewhere. But it sure as hell will be a very rough start.

oyatz:


Genetucally, Blackman is not really different from other races. The perceived differences are man-made problems that can also be solved by man-made solutions.

First, Africans must discard the use of Foreign languages as means of dissemination of knowledge especially Scientific knowledge in Schools and adopt indigenous languages.

Secondly Science Textbooks should be developed and writing by experts using examples of things commonly seen in the local environment.

At the start of a lecture on 'Carbon and it's compounds' in our Chemistry Class in SS-1, our Teacher asked all the students to stand-up and said 'if
you have seen Carbon before, sit down '

Only two of us could sit down, the whole class stood for a while because none of them had seen Carbon before. Then the teacher lashed them for being ignorant, saying that they see Carbon regularly but didn't know it is Carbon and gave them examples e.g coal, Carbon soots at the top of their lanterns , graphite rods inside their torch batteries etc.

Speaking of discarding foreign languages and adopting out local dialects to disseminate knowledge. I have thought of this deeply too. It will be very effective but will require a lot of resources — human, financial and others. Some of the things I thought of at first, me being a software developer and a Yoruba man, is to develop a keyboard, both software and hardware that will allow inputting of Yoruba characters with diacritical marks (e.g. é) into software programs with ease. This keyboard will also be able to easily support other languages in Nigeria because as far as I know characters in our local languages are not very different. I don’t know if such piece of software already exists but I do know that it can be done for various operating system platforms, especially touch based mobile devices. As for the hardware version — a physical keyboard —developing that will require huge monetary investments so it is not something one person can do unless such person is swimming in money. As in really huge amount of money of which manufacturing it will eat up the most amount.
And when it comes to textbooks. It will make sense for publishers to be encouraged to translate their books into our major (and minor if possible) local languages and at the same time to encourage the government to promote learning in our local languages. Schools (at various educational levels) can also opt to do this themselves without government intervention as additional curricular activities. Introduction dictionaries of all our various local languages will also be a necessary thing. As in absolutely necessary. All these will take time. But they are all possible.
Also teaching and learning should be enforced to become more practical as opposed to the theoretical model we follow at the moment. Whatever is in textbooks as pictures must also be presented to students for them to see, hold, and experimented with as the situation requires. This especially will inculcate curiosity as an habit into students and propel them towards a path of scientific and other forms of creativity.

NOwazobia:
Nothing can develop Nigeria until we reduce corruption to the very minimum.


I mean Nothing on earth, not even your science.


You guys tend to put the horse before the cart, largely due to your fantasy, and less rationalization of reality... 😂

Let me tell you something. Putting sheer greed aside, if you do your research well you will realise that the most corrupt people in this world are people who have nothing in their heads. They are not innovative, not creative and not particularly smart in any way. The may be rich partly because of bribe money or partly because somehow they hold a political or non-political position that pays them well but they don't have the ability to think like business people and people of science. Their own is to get the money however they can and just survive and live large if they can. It is these kind of people who hold on to money like it is their very hearts and cannot give to the needy or poor as a result because they just lack the ability to think of how to invest and make more money for themselves so they hold on to their corrupt source as much as they can. It is this kind of people that fail to see the usefulness and profitability of ideas brought to them by people who need financing for various innovations and businesses but end up shelling out money to acquire products of said innovation/business if it somehow manages to work for the idea/business owner.
Let me add a little bit of context for you. When I was a little boy I heard stories of how bread makers would attack themselves and their products/businesses with jazz/dark voodoo because one was having more sales than the other — basically because of competition. It went on like that for a time until new generation bread makers came (this part I noticed by myself). The new generation bread makers I’m sure thought of how they could effectively compete with the ones that have already been in the business which are the old generation bread makers. They introduced products that smelled better, looked better, had better textures, had varieties of tastes by adding different natural/artificial flavours and others like that. The result from what I observed was that their product were well accepted by consumers and they, in time, had the old generation bread makers go out of business. It made it obvious that the old generation bread makers, instead of competing with themselves by making products that differ slightly or even majorly from their competitors’, were all using the same formula for their products and resorted to unscrupulous means as way to beat their competitors in the market. So you see what I am trying to say here people who could think came up with better bread formulae and allowing better products to be made. This also allowed more bread makers to enter the bread market. All each business had to do was have its own bread formula that will give it a particular taste/smell/texture that will differentiate it from the competitors’ and also make people prefer it over the competitors’ product. This is a basic application of scientific knowledge and experimentation to create better (and sometimes new) products.
I will end by saying this. If you say I am putting the horse before the cart how then do you think corruption can be reduced in the country?

Gerrard59:


To your concerns, the foundation for scientific development must be laid: basic mathematics, chemistry, physics and biology. Mathematics and physics need to be taken seriously, as those are the bedrock of scientific research. Chemistry and biology come in for medical treatments but are built upon the successes of mathematics and physics. For a start, we perform poorly at mathematics as we score poorly compared to the Chinese or Indians on the GRE Quant section. We even have lower verbal scores on the same test compared to the Chinese whose first language is not English. So, we have to start by ensuring the majority of the populace LOVE mathematics and logic. We have to inculcate a culture of questioning concepts no matter how sacred they might be. We have to grow a culture of curiosity in the populace. Curiosity and questioning, I believe, are necessary ingredients to kickstart basic research. Why? How? What? When? Who? These are questions people should be free to ask, and when no answers, they should press further for them or conduct research to know why there are no answers. In summary, people should be free to ask questions and get answers to them. No question is too sacred to be asked or institution to be questioned. We should do away with trust me bro, I no fit lie give you mentalities and sniffing statistics from the Bureau of Imaginary Statistics

This is true. We need to start that as soon as possible or the average Nigerian will continue to believe that once they are done with their university education it is the job of the government to somehow magically create jobs for them.

Gerrard59:


Basic research, not applied, is the bedrock of scientific development, but it is a long term stuff. It is not something one does today and expect profits tomorrow. It is the reason Nobel laureates in the science category are judged based on works they did donkey years ago and in a few cases, some years ago as the recent winners in the Medicine or Physiology category because of COVID or Chemistry because of the speed CRISPR has grown and its applications. However, one of the reasons why basic research and its applied sister haven't been taken seriously is because we are at the nadir of the Maslow Hierarchy of Needs. People who have focused on the basic necessities of life would not be thinking of inventing or innovation. Na when person don chop belly full, him or her go begin think of discovering a cheaper or novel way of treating an ailment.

We need to understand this as adults and begin to make the time investment now in any little way we can. The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

Gerrard59:


Finally, thanks once again for referencing my thread as that is the ONLY way to reduce racism. So if any clown cries of racism while sitting his yansh in the abroad, tell the person to move to Africa to contribute to its economic development as that is the only way to solve the issue rather than protesting and chanting wE wAz kAuNgS or bLaCk LiVeS mAtTeR. Black lives matter ONLY when the lives of sub-Saharan Africans have been improved tremendously and that work can only be done by black people. No one is coming to help us develop our environment.

You are welcome.
To be honest I never believed in the whole black lives matter of a thing. I see it as a joke. African Americans especially their men love being cry babies who in reality are not ready to do anything serious to help themselves. As I once saw on the news one of leaders of the black lives matter movement, a woman, was arrested after it was discovered that she bought a house and started living lavish lifestyles with the money given to the movement by the American government to help black lives matter more. I think more discoveries like that were made. And to make matters worse millionaire African Americans like Tyler Perry and Anthony Mackie and others don’t seem to be doing much to reorientate at least some their own folks over there to help things get better. Granted it is not their job. But they say with great power (money and influence in this case) comes great responsibilities. Black people everywhere as individuals seem to be too focused on the idea that once they are made they are made and that’s all that matters.

sukkot:
bro trust me China got that whole tech thing sewed up for the next 100 years, everyday containers loaded with tech products hit the high seas from China for all 200 plus countries on the planet. We gotta focus on high tech agriculture. It’s within our grasp

Yes. This is understandable. But imagine this scenario: Nigeria becomes a manufacturing hub like china. Able to make things at a cost comparable to or even lower than they do in china (without using slave labour 😁). This will make manufacturers in Africa forget about china immediately and start outsourcing their manufacturing Nigeria. China will continue to exist for other western countries, sure. But Nigeria will be closer to 53 other African countries who will continue to rely on her for its manufacturing. Win win. Like I said there is room for competition. Whatever will be manufactured in Nigeria in this scenario will arrive at the destination African country faster than whatever has to be shipped in from china.

Ofodirinwa:
^It's you that's behind



China being successful doesn't means others can't do the same and exist. Eventually, China will be so wealthy that it will start importing more than it produces as well. and that's a big opening.

But there's no such a thing as a country dominating something. There's a lot of ppl who are successful in those things in China and some are in Nigeria and there can be more in NIgeria

Good point

OneCandleAway:
The black man excels mostly in the arts.

Singing, dancing, then athletics.

When it comes to critical thinking, he is behind (few exceptions are obviously available but majority are guilty and overwhelm the few )

Arts can contribute too. Yes. We just need to really modernise some of the things we do more to become better than the status quo. Take the case of Nigerian movies for example. I don’t see a reason why we cannot make really good (action) movies that make use of really good and very convincing computer graphics/special effects (VFX) in scenes that require them. That will make our movies have more acceptability in other countries. This means more sales/revenue for us. More and better use of tech in our arts industry will no doubt translate to more money for the industry.

sukkot:
i totally agree with you however it seems the mass production of anything tech has been globally taken over by china and looks like it will be that way for the next 100 plus years. I believe we need to go into high tech agriculture. I believe that’s the future for Nigeria. High tech agriculture. We can be the food hub of the world

This works too. But the fact is not everything is made in china. Sure a lot of things are mass produced in china but there are loads of other things that are not made in china in mass quantities and some not made there at all. Trust me. I know what I’m saying. But like I said your Idea is one of many that can work for Nigeria/Africa.

Edit: About china being the mass production hub for tech and other commodities there is room for competition. Even some American manufacturers are slowly bringing some of the manufacturing they do in china back home to better help their economy.

I’ll start by saying this is not about politics. Yes the current state of the political atmosphere of the country is affecting a lot of businesses negatively but when it does affect things positively nothing much goes on except that businesses do better financially. For us to really grow in Nigeria we need to be developed technologically and when I say technologically I don’t mean having companies that build native mobile and web apps like Uber and Jumia and co. Those count too but they are still at the bottom of the barrel as far as I’m concerned. And no this is also not about being able to export agricultural produce to other countries. That is, in my own opinion, still very mediocre. What I’m talking about here is that we as a country need to invest heavily in and make serious advances in scientific research and development, and local manufacturing (hi tech and low tech). Anyone with half a brain knows that this single fact is what allowed the white man to be above us blacks in nearly everything. The wealth of knowledge they have gathered over many decades of research is why they are able to develop a great diversity of products that they sell all over the world today and this is what has made them richer than Nigeria (Africa in general) today. Scientific research and development in any context does not have to mean you need to set up a laboratory worth hundreds or even tens of millions of Naira to be able to discover new knowledge. It may be as simple as mixing a little bit of clay with mortar (cement, water and sand mixture) to see what the effect will be on its adhesive strength so far as the process, tests and results are carefully measured and well documented. And it may be as advanced as literal rocket science. Things as trivial as non-stick cooking pots and non-stick frying pans are products of advanced science research. Manufacturing can also be as simple as making tomato paste and others like that locally and shipping them abroad. Watch making is another thing (one I personally have plans to go into in the future). The possibilities as you know are endless. So by exporting and generating revenue for business owners and Nigeria (if we put aside the political climate of the country) Nigeria (and other African countries if they follow suit) will be come so rich we will be respected by other countries.

Edit: I strategically set my eyes on watch making because everything required to make a quartz watch can be sourced locally in Nigeria.

Cc: sukkot, Gerrard59, Konquest, Treadway

This post is partly inspired by Gerrard59’s post linked below:
https://www.nairaland.com/5886610/racism-against-blacks-reduce-drastically

meum:

With the present set of leaders that is impossible. There was a time one dollar exchanged for N21(in the year 1999). Who ever thought one dollar could exchange for over N1,000 not to talk of N1,400(coming down from N1,700)

Our leaders only think about the next election year. Presently what are they doing to make things work? Nothing. What are the doing in preparation towards 2027? A lot.

There was a time in this country one dollar was 55kobo(1980).

Unfortunately the money is all hey care about. But I’m hopeful. Just a little bit hopeful.

sukkot:
they say at a point the Naira was stronger than the dollar. Would be nice if we can go back to that lol

Would be. I would really love to see that happen in my lifetime. The gradual fall of the west and the rise of BRICS should help with that too.

meum:
No be around that N500 the present administration meet am before dem carry am go where E no know? Even if it gets to N500, APC hasn’t done anything because they met it at N199 in 2015.

Let them take it back to N199 that they met it & start working from there.

Seeing your comment reminds me of a time when dollar was 120 naira. They should bring it back even lower to that rate. Will make sense.

500 naira ke? I hope so. Let’s wait and see. The people hoarding the dollar (which includes the moguls that own these refineries) will still try to do their best to keep their hoarded greenback valuable. But I hope they fail. I still dey observe sa.

Bandits. Terrorists. Boko Haram. This. That. In all these northern (and other) states where these attacks happen we need to do our research to find out if there are precious and/or non precious commercial mineral resources like rubies, lithium and others are in these places. Places like these are deliberately put in situations of unrest to allow illegal mining by foreign companies to be carried out covertly. Also sometimes some foreign companies are actually secretly running large farms in these area without the public’s knowledge. Guess who they paid or should I say bribed to make all these possible? The politicians you are all calling to for help and intervention.